1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to wall socket assemblies and, more particularly, is concerned with a safety wall socket assembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wall socket assemblies are employed to make electrical connections between a source of electrical power and an electrical plug of an appliance. However, problems exist with conventional wall socket assemblies. An unintended object such as a screw driver tip or a paper clip, other than an electrical plug, inserted by a child into one of the cavities of the socket assembly can cause an electrical shock that may result in injury to the child. Also, electrical shock may occur during the insertion of a conventional electrical plug if the child is not holding the plug in an appropriate way.
Various socket assemblies have been developed in the prior art. Representative examples of prior art socket assemblies and the like are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,826,652 to Piplack, U.S. Pat. No. 3,346,709 to Appleton, U.S. Pat. No. 3,370,141 to Garamszegi, U.S. Pat. No. 3,701,074 to Oster, U.S. Pat. No. 3,846,598 to Mucsi, U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,565 to Niedermeyer, U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,856 to Mindheim, deceased et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,242,657 to Chaillot, U.S. Pat. No. 4,438,303 to Astier and U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,019 to Howard. While these and other prior art socket assemblies and the like appear to be satisfactory in use for the specific purposes for which they were designed, none of them seem to provide an optimum solution for the problems at hand.
Consequently, a need remains for a socket assembly which provides a more effective solution to the aforementioned problems in the prior art without introducing any new problems in place thereof.